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to do some other things along the river, so we’re going to seriously look at those.” “Another area we’re looking at is on West Main Street,” David adds. “We are looking at putting in a town square with some significant green space and along that square, a hotel. That is very big for us. It’s on our radar and we have been talking to some hotel developers. There’s a lot of interest, so far. So we want to be the initiator of some of these projects as a city, because to put it bluntly, they’re not going to happen unless we do some things to help them along. And, we are willing to do that.” David believes that improvements in the city will help attract both the new generation of Millennial workers, as well as their Baby Boom- er parents. “We’ve got a couple of apartments downtown that have attracted retired folks who have sold their homes and moved into these two new apartment buildings that are right along the river. And we have had interest from some pri- vate developers to put in other condos and/or apartments along the river for the Baby Boomer who has said, ‘I’m done owning a house; I don’t want that responsibility and yet, I want to be downtown.’ And one of the things we have done which may be more attractive to the Millenni- als, or some of the young family people, is we are working very hard to become a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly community.” Jaynellen Holloway,Watertown’s City Engineer, is tasked with making those initiatives manifest. She talks about the city’s recent bicycle proj- ects: “About a year ago, we were seeking a grant called the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP),” she begins. “It allows for funding and construction for bike paths, walking paths, and street improvements.We have a group in town called ‘Share the Road;’ it’s a bicycle group that came forward and said, ‘We’re looking for ways that the city can provide routes throughout the city for bicycle and/or pedestrians.’ From that we established, through our Public Works Commission, a bicycle and pedestrian task force that is working on a master plan.We’re very fortunate in that we have some county paths that go through our city; we have some state trails within reach; and we have an interstate bicycle path that goes through our city, along with some smaller trails. On our bicycle task WATERTOWN, WISCONSIN
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